AUBURN | Auburn rolled up 301 yards and 24 points in the first half of Saturday’s 27-13 win over Mississippi State.

The second half was a completely different story as the Tigers had just 115 yards after the break.

But there was more to it than AU just choosing to be more conservative on offense.

“I mean, the third quarter, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we had one possession,” said AU coach Hugh Freeze. “And I don't know how many we had in the fourth, we were backed up though in the fourth, so you can't be aggressive there, you know, and do something silly and give them a really short field where they don't take any time.”

Auburn did have just one possession in the third quarter and capitalized on a 12-play, 44-yard drive with a 49-yard field goal by Alex McPherson.

The starting points for AU’s first three fourth-quarter possessions were AU’s 23-yard line, 43-yard line and 3-yard line.

After Payton Thorne completed 15 of 20 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, he was 5 of 6 for 38 yards in the second.

The star of the second half was running back Jarquez Hunter, who had 71 yards after the break including a 50-yarder with 2:55 left to end any hopes of an MSU comeback.

Hunter finished with 144 yards on 17 carries. He also caught two passes for 26 yards.

Overall, AU rushed for 77 yards in the second half after totaling 109 in the first.

“They were just overloading the run game,” said Hunter of the second half. “First half we were running the ball on them. So the second half, they were just trying to overload to stop the outside zone from us.”

Auburn plays at Vanderbilt next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.